SHELBY – At lunchtime Monday, a house covered and blocked a section of North Morgan Street.

Workers scurried from side to side, moving boards underneath the structure, trimming tree limbs around it and removing nearby power lines.

Dozens of people gathered around the house – built in the 1920s, according to its preservation group – as it inched down the block from 501 N. Morgan St. to 400 N. Morgan St.

Residents of nearby White Oak Manor lined the yard to get a closer look at the house move. Other residents formed a circle around the work site, taking pictures and video with smart phones and tablets and talking with their neighbors. About a dozen utility workers moved lines to make way for the house.

Melanie Graham, who works with several properties in nearby counties, plans to turn the house into a bed-and-breakfast cottage at its new location.

“I want to embrace the people coming to Shelby,” Graham said Monday as she watched the house move. “Shelby has lots of grassroots and back-to-nature attractions. I want to magnify that. People here shake hands and talk to each other. It’s very representative of the South. When I walked into this house, I said ‘this is the one. If I could keep it in Shelby, it’s the perfect place.’ It’s a piece of Shelby history that I believe needed to be maintained.”

“I really wanted to own a bed-and-breakfast,” Graham said. “I own several properties now but couldn’t get codes changed. I had to find some property already zoned for it. I looked at Kings Mountain first. This one was on the preservation society site. Only the house was offered and it had to be moved.”

White Oak Manor is located adjacent to the lot where the Morgan Street house previously sat.

Here’s how plans for the move progressed, according to Ted Alexander, western regional director for Preservation North Carolina and former Shelby mayor.

“We learned that the house had been sold to White Oak Manor. First we thought (White Oak was) going to be able to use it and keep it. Then we learned their plans didn’t allow for that. We went and talked to them, along with the Historic Shelby Foundation. The folks at White Oak were very willing to talk to us about moving it. It’s always our hope to keep a structure in place. It was not in the cards for what (White Oak) needed to do for their expansion they’re doing. It was a challenge to locate a suitable lot within a reasonable distance and available. God must’ve been smiling on us as it was just across the street. We worked with White Oak to have them donate it to us if we found a buyer -- buyer meaning move it and fix it up. It’s a win for preservation in general. It’s a win for keeping the neighborhood there. It’s a win for Melanie. The White Oak folks will have the room they need to expand. And a house was saved.”

The house

2.5 – Number of floors in the home

4,000 – Approximate square footage

230 – How many tons the house weighs

$50,000 to $150,000 – Range of cost estimates owner Melanie Graham said she received for moving the house

Here’s what Preservation North Carolina, which promotes and protects historic buildings and landscapes, shares on its website:

“…One of the most magnificent examples of the Arts and Crafts Bungalow style in the region and was built in the early 1920s. … The interior of the house features exquisite woodwork throughout. The house is in very good condition. The house exterior is wooden-clad with side gables and three projecting gables, one placed asymmetrically on the front elevation and the other two on the sides. The house retains its original brackets, brick porte cochere and brick piers. The juxtaposition of the gables make it a varied and interesting composition.”

Father, son, team move it

Shelby-based Simmons House Moving workers moved the house.

“That’s a lot of house,” owner Mickey Simmons Sr. said Monday during the move. “Melanie’s got big plans for it, and I hope they work out well for her.”

Simmons said a lot of manual labor goes into moving a house.

“The first house I moved was the house I live in to this day. We rented the equipment to move that one. That was 33 years ago.”

Simmons said iron equipment is the key to supporting a 230-ton house for such a move.

“Everything about this house is heavy,” said Mickey Simmons Jr., who works in the company with his father.

100 – Approximate number of houses Simmons has moved

3,000 – Approximate number of mobile homes Simmons has moved

40 to 60 tons – weight of average house Simmons’ company moves

3 – Number of pickup points for crew to get house in the air

6 – Crew members from Simmons House Moving who worked on the house move, in addition to numerous utility workers

58 – number of wheels underneath the Morgan Street house to move it

She lived in the house

Pat Guffey watched the house move across Morgan Street on Monday.

Guffey said the Packard family originally built the house and she lived in the home from 1968 until about 2011, when she sold it.

“I’m just grateful it’s not being torn down,” she said. “This is happy today.”

What are the plans for the bed-and-breakfast?

The B&B will be called Morgan & Wells, named for the corner of streets at which the house will sit. Its website lists it will be open in December 2013.

Graham said she plans to have the bottom level decorated for an open house by the holidays.

“Comfort, luxury, pampering,” Graham said in reference to what she wants the bed-and-breakfast to offer.

For more information on the bed-and-breakfast, visit morganandwells.com.